Tech stocks plunge

Tech stocks in the U.S. are taking a battering amid signs of a widening economic slowdown in the U.S. According to the Associated Press, technology stocks made an abrupt U-turn, reducing any gains. Wall Street had been suggesting tech stocks were a safe harbor against trouble in the financial and real estate sectors.

But that rationale suddenly looked shaky after Cisco's Chief Executive, John Chambers, warned that its major customers were losing interest in their products. He indicated his company has been having trouble selling products to its 25 largest customers, a group that overlaps the biggest businesses in the United States.

Cisco suffered the worst from the stock fall, but Google and Apple, whose stocks had been leaping from one new peak to another for months, were also hit. Google lost 7.5 per cent while Apple took 9.9 per cent losses.